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Tuesday, April 16, 2013

One time, at Target, I saw a Lion in the towel aisle

This post is sponsored by Target.

One of the things every Domestic Goddess Failure needs to accept, is that no matter how much you complain, or how badly you do your tasks, THE TOWELS WILL STILL NEED WASHING.

LOTS OF TOWELS.

As a family of four people and two bathrooms I seem to wash 98 towels a week. Way too many. Recently I was having a little Mummy Tantrum and fuming away about no one picking up towels, do we all really need a fresh towel every day, whose towel is this sitting in a festering pile in the laundry.

It was clear no one was listening to me and I needed a new strategy.

Considering they are not allowed to use the washing machine nor can they reach the washing line, I couldn't really make up a cleaning roster.


Lion in the towel aisle at Target
Always ready to perform.
 Last year's The Lion King costume is still worn regularly.

But I could devise my own plan, which of course isn't really my plan at all, I stole it from a friend who was telling me the story years ago at a dinner with lots of wine. We got talking about some of the things her Mum did as a single Mum to 5 kids after her father decided five kids was actually more than he cared to be around.

Each of the five kids had a colour. Particularly for towels. If red towel was on the floor, in a bedroom or anywhere it shouldn't be hanging than that particular child would be called upon.

So off we went to get some Target Towels.

There was a fight over who would get the hot pink towel so the new rule was made - no one gets hot pink.


Target Towels range of colours



Immy picked dark purple, Popps picked mustard yellow. Mr H got given a navy and I am sticking with the white ones at home.

Target Homewares towels
Stacks of colours for everyone.
Two weeks in to my new rule and it is working really well.

The girls have one towel each and every night it stands out very clearly who has not hung their towel back in the bathroom. If they want to wash in the other bathroom they must go and get their towel first - or run dripping and cold through the house to go and get it (OK, so I usually end up having to do this bit...not the running around naked part, that wouldn't be very good).

There is one downfall - you can't wash your white towels with your purple or mustard or navy ones!

Do you have a way of keeping the towel washing under control?






13 comments:

  1. GREAT idea Claire. I've seen the same concept used for glasses and mugs too x

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    1. Oh D - there is no way I am having a drawer full of odd mugs. Towels is hard enough. My new white towels have been replaced with a rainbow. I actually threw out ALL our mugs and only had 8 matching ones, but of course now I have some hand painted ones from Mothers Day...such treasures!

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  2. Love this idea and love you get the white ones to yourself!!!

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  3. That's exactly what we do! I have pink (by virtue of being the only female in the house, and it matches our bathrooms) the bloke has brown, and the kids have green and blue. I try and extend that to everything so there's a green lunchbox and a blue lunchbox, water bottles etc. Saves fights over who's towel is whos. We just came back from a trip away where all the towels were white, and it's so much easier to know which towel is yours! Also, it means you don't end up with the soggy wet towel that was screwed up in a ball on a chair...

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    1. Now this is organisation, I fear we would have too many arguments over pink!

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  4. Great idea Claire! We have that trouble too and it annoys me when they can't hang the towel properly. Not the littlies, but the teenagers who scrunch the towel into the towel rail and think that is hanging it up!

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  5. a good water saving idea !!!

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  6. Fantastic idea Claire! When our second child comes along I'm going to start using this concept myself. Sadly I never seem to get to the bottom of my laundry basket, but I've learnt to be happy if it's only half full. Congrats on being a Voices of 2013 finalist! Amy x x

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    1. Thanks Amy, it's quite a list, a little overwhelming to think about really!

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  7. I love this idea so much! So going to have to steal it too :)

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  8. That's what happens in our house...... I got sick of matching towels and having someone else use mine. Differnt colours for everyone works a treat. Cute lion. Gotta love a concert costume that gets a decent wearing

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  9. I love this idea! In fact, I may just have to put it into practise!

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